Is there really any better way to spend a Monday evening, other than sitting at a bar, sipping on cocktails and nibbling on italian bar foods? I doubt it, apart from perhaps a tropical sandy beach in the Bahamas. With Christmas only round the corner, weather getting colder and nights becoming darker – our taste buds change and I always find myself drinking more cocktails, flavoured spirits, my food gets richer and the red wines become darker. It probably explains why we’re all a stone heavier come January. With all this in mind I made my way down to Mele e Pere in Soho to meet The King of Soho’s co-founder, Alex Robson and find out what all the hype was for one of London’s newest gins.
Hosting our evening along with Alex was Mele’s sommelier and vermouth expert, Ed Scothern. Ed’s a fantastic host, makes some smashing cocktails and most importantly – has a real passion for drinks. Such care and precision goes into creating each glass using the finest ingredients Mele e Pere has to offer. As for the gin, it looks absolutely fantastic. An enticing vivid blue-bottle adorned with the brands mystery figure which was created to represent everything that London’s Soho is or once was. Inside the bottle it’s just as enticing as the packaging. Full of soft notes of juniper and coriander, flavours of grapefruit peel and a lingering finish of cassia bark. This isn’t your ordinary gin. Ed whipped us up a batch of delicious Gimlets to start which went beautifully with our bowl of warm ascolanes – deep-fried olives stuffed with njuda.
Yet another stunning creation was this Martinez cocktail made with Antica Formula and plenty of gin, served in a rather unique green stemmed glass. Quadruple distilled, means for a gin which is incredibly smooth and full-bodied – so not only is The King of Soho well suited for cocktails, but also served neat over ice. Accompanying our Martinez cocktail was another perfect snack created by the kitchen here at Mele e Pere. A bowl of tender & crisp deep-fried calamari rings and fluffy gnocchi pillows served with parma ham for stuffing – just one of the many good reasons to come back to this popular Soho restaurant.
The gins founders, Howard Raymond and Alex Robson have done many a thing right since its launch, but perhaps the best was letting cocktail guru, Jamie Stephenson create what is probably my favourite cocktail of the year – The Remember Remember; taking inspiration from bonfire night toffee apples. Conjure up in your mind a mix of freshly baked tarte tatin and toffee apples – that should give you a rough idea of just how good this cocktail tasted, especially when paired with our bitter ice-cream creation.
Personally I can’t recommend the The King of Soho gin enough and urge you all make a trip over to Mele e Pere – it really is the perfect place to settle in on these cold winter evenings. If you don’t fancy leaving the comfort of your living room, then perhaps putting together this incredible cocktail yourself is a good enough alternative (almost). All the details are below and honestly, it’s alot easier than you may think to create.
THE Cocktail
Remember Remember
50ml King of Soho Gin
60ml Pressed Apple Juice
20ml Toffee Sauce
10ml Lemon Juice
Shake very well and strain into a tall glass filled with ice. To finish garnish with slices of apple.
I was invited
